Alright, it is time, once again to crack a pack and

here

we

go.

This is a pretty interesting pack with a few obvious front runners.

In blue, we have some serious cards. Tinker is the type of card that can seal a game if cast turns 1-3 or even later at times. Just the other day, Sam drafted a UW tinker deck that managed to drop Sundering Titan on turn 2 fairly easily – and if you have never been on the receiving end of that sort of beating, then you really haven’t lived. So, obviously Tinker is a card. Crystal Shard is a lot of fun to draft around. Like Venser, the Sojourner, Crystal Shard fits into any deck that plays blue and has good enters the battlefield effects to reuse. And Crystal Shard, unlike Venser, protects your sh*t as long as you leave it open. Also in blue, we have Sower of Temptation. I really like Sower since Control Magic on a stick is always nice, although, 2/2 flyers with no protection are really fragile – dying to (actually) everything. When I draft Sower, I like to have things like swords (for the added protection) or something like Crystal Shard (both for the protection and the reset capability). Cryptic Command is another blue card worth mentioning as it is a card that hardly ever fails to swing a game once it gets cast, though with UUU in its mana cost, I don’t know that I would take it this early. Daze and Serendib Effreet are both fine cards but I can’t imagine wanting them as first picks.

In white, we have two cards that I pick very highly; Wrath of God and Cloudgoat Ranger. Wraths are sweet. Need I say more? Cloudgoat Ranger is a huge player as a 3/3 that enters with 3 1/1’s and can gain flying and +2/+0  is just BOMB.

Red has Mizzium Mortars. Much like daze and the Effreet, Mortars is okay but I would never first pick it.

Poor Green ain’t reppin’. Edric is a really fun card to build around and can generate a TON of advantage with the right support creatures and, depending on the size of your draft, you could take him hoping to get the pieces you need to make that build. BUT, do you really want to go two colors on a first pick Edric? – not when the other two-color-first-pick possibility is Vindicate. Which brings us to Vindicate. IF you took it, I wouldn’t laugh at you. Vindicate is “the tits” when it comes to removal. That being said, I only take Vindicate first if the rest of the pack has no strong mono colored cards.

Black is really thin in this pack. The dauthi is really nothing to be excited about but can serve a purpose if we pick up a piece of equipment. Vampiric Tutor, on the other hand, is exactly what I want. Card disadvantage? Bah! Who cares? Tutors are just a more direct route to my broken sh*t.

Staying open with Artifacts is a good plan for a lot of first picks and, for newer cube drafters, drafting noncommittally can be a good plan in the early stages of a draft. However, Phyrexian Revoker and Mimic Vat might not be on the same power level as some of the other cards in this pack. Now, an argument could be made that Mimic Vat could be really strong in a deck with the Wrath of God and that is a good point. But, If we passed the Wrath now and took the Vat, it’s a fat chance that we’ll ever see that wrath on a wheel. In a perfect world, we would have the Wrath, the Cloudgoat, and the Vat. Alas, that just does not seem reasonable.

Final Verdict – First Pick Rankings

1. Vampiric Tutor – Vamp tutor is pretty insane. Being able to put any card onto the top of your library without revealing it can set up a myriad of broken plays. And, although it is a black card, it is not a commitment to black. I can take a first pick tutor, have it be the only black card in my main deck at the end of the draft, and be completely fine with that. The card is godly.

2. Tinker – While taking a first pick tinker is scary (since you need other pieces to make it work), taking a tinker this early allows plenty of time to find your pieces. Although, after you do take tinker this early, you have to stick to your guns and prioritize correctly – since you will need your early mana rocks as well as the big bad artifact creatures.

3. Wrath of God – Wraths are sick.

Now it is your turn. Get at me, dog.